Answers Provided

In the course of life, there are sometimes situations that call out for guidance and needs that require provision. We wait and we wonder. Where is God's answer? When will He step in and do what needs to be done? Doesn't He know? Doesn't He see?

Of course, He does. God always knows the answers, and He always has the provisions to meet our needs. Usually when the situation is serious and matters are desperate, we bring our needs to God; whether or not we tell Him, however, God already knows everything we need. "For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him" (Matthew 6:8).

While we are usually unaware that God is doing anything, He is often at work, preparing the answer ahead of time so it will be ready when the time is right. We don't always realize the advance preparation God makes in order to meet a need, but He often works out the provision before we ask and even before we are aware of the need. "It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear" (Isaiah 65:24).

God certainly has the ability to meet a need on the spur of the moment with no apparent preparation. The manna for each day appeared in the morning. An angel appeared and made cakes for Elijah to eat. The disciples' nets suddenly filled with fish when there had been none all night.

More often, however, God's answer comes after deliberate preparation. God often requires our obedience before He pours out His provision. The widow's pitcher held a miraculous quantity of oil, but she and her sons first had to collect the empty vessels to hold that oil. The ark protected Noah and his family, but Noah spent many decades obediently building that ark. Jesus turned the water into wine, but first the servants had to obey His command to fill the pitchers with water. God often asks us to take steps of obedience; through those steps, He prepares both us and the situation to receive His provision.

At other times God does the preparation without any knowledge or realization on our part. The answer is wholly independent of us and serves as a tremendous display of God's ability to provide - and to prepare that provision ahead of time.

As Abraham climbed Mount Moriah, anticipating having to sacrifice Isaac, he didn't know how God would provide. His best guess was that God would raise Isaac from the dead after Abraham had completed the sacrifice. What Abraham didn't know was that God had provided a ram. That ram was caught in a nearby thicket. Abraham didn't know it was there waiting for him until God told him, but God had led that ram to the right spot and had caused it to become entangled in a bush, where it remained until Abraham arrived.

With marriage, prior preparation is always in play. When someone starts praying for or seeking a spouse, God doesn't mysteriously create the spouse at that time or cause the person to be born then. No, the person already exists and is already being trained by his or her parents and is already being molded by God's hand to be prepared for marriage. In Isaac's case, the dynamic of preparation is even more amazing. When Abraham sent his servant to seek a bride, he didn't know how long it would take to find one. God, however, led the servant directly to Abraham's relatives. Rebekah appeared at the well before the servant finished praying and had probably left home before the servant even arrived at the well. Both she and her family were in agreement to the marriage, so a task that could have required months or years was accomplished in an incredibly short space of time.

Jesus fed thousands of people with a little boy's lunch. At the end of the day, the people were hungry. They still needed to travel back to their homes, and there were no markets nearby to purchase food. The people had apparently consumed earlier in the day any provisions they had brought with them. This little boy still had his lunch. It had been with him all day, packed before he left home. Those important steps were made ahead of time so that Jesus could meet the need when it became crucial.

Peter needed money to pay the taxes for himself and for Jesus. When he told Jesus of the need, Jesus sent him on a fishing expedition. Peter pulled up a fish with coins in its mouth, enough to pay the taxes. Certainly a miraculous answer is possible, but it is more likely that the fish had already lived for quite some time. It had gone about its regular journeys for months or years. On this day, it came across something shiny and alluring on the bottom of the sea floor. Someone had dropped some coins - maybe earlier that day, but maybe even weeks or years earlier. The coins and the fish most likely existed before Peter even knew he needed them, but when the time was right, God brought everything together.

God knows every answer. He holds every provision. He may be working to prepare us during the waiting time, leading us in steps of obedience. Very likely He has already been at work for days, months, or years - putting into place everything that will be needed when He makes His answer clear. We can trust Him to arrange those details and to organize each factor in preparation for His answer.

"The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the LORD" (Lamentations 3:25-26).

"But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me" (Micah 7:7).